How to Build an Inclusive Workforce for Black Employees?

The wealth gap between Black and White Americans is persistent and pervasive. It represents four centuries of systemic and institutional racism and is responsible for other inequities in opportunities, income, and access to quality education and healthcare. After the homicide of George Floyd in May 2020, corporate heavyweights in the United States pledged to play an active part in addressing systemic racism. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, took a knee with Chase employees. McDonald's declared Floyd and other murdered African Americans to be "one of us."

Creative Investment Research found that 271 US corporations had pledged $67 billion toward confronting racial inequity through various means like donating to civil rights organizations, overhauling internal diversity and inclusion programs, and investing in promoting opportunities for the African American Community. However, only $652 million had been disbursed by the beginning of 2022.

Despite the slow progress, some US companies have taken important steps, such as being transparent about the racial diversity of their boards. The Conference Board, a business research nonprofit organization, found that 59% of the S&P 500 made diversity disclosures in 2021 as compared to 24% in 2020.

Forward-thinking businesses understand that true diversity wins deep trust and commitment from their employees. It inures them to a constantly changing business climate and builds competitive business intelligence. Such businesses also view diversity and inclusion as moral and legal obligations.

The Present Reality

Even though there are laws to protect African Americans and initiatives to help them thrive, the cultural and political atmosphere in the United States is resistant to their growth. This makes them vulnerable to the rapidly changing trends in the workplace, such as the increased adoption of automation across industries. They struggle to get good jobs and scale into leadership positions. 

• Only 6 of the Fortune 500 CEOs are Black. 
• Only 5.9% of the chief executives in the US are Black.
• African Americans are overrepresented in the sales, service, and administrative support sectors, making them vulnerable to evolving automation capabilities.
• African Americans make up 12.9 percent of the US labor force but earn only 9.6 percent of total US wages.

Organizational Barriers to Inclusion
Barriers to inclusion and diversity in the workplace persist due to

• Underlying and direct microaggressions
• Conscious and unconscious bias
• The disconnect between organizational values and employee competencies
• Lack of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) champions
• Inadequate DEI policies and initiatives

Even Giants like Amazon Have Work to Do

Recode interviewed several former and present Black employees from Amazon, which revealed that the company had a race problem. Microaggression and insensitive references to Black history were common. Black employees were passively denied raises, promotions, and scaling in their careers compared with their white counterparts. Eventually, Amazon came forward and agreed they had work to do even though they brushed off the scale of these issues.

Even multinational companies, with leaders who have the right intentions, are missing the point. Without concerted efforts to fight discrimination in the workplace, the gap between Black employees and their white counterparts will keep growing.

8 Strategies for Building an Inclusive Workforce for Black Employees

1. Training and upskilling

The African American community lacks access to quality education and skill-building opportunities required to stay competitive. Thus, they remain confined to lower-level jobs. Without training and upskilling programs, they cannot bridge the gap and are likely to lose their jobs to automation.

Training and upskilling underemployed or unemployed Black workers acquire in-demand skills like software skills, gain access to better-paying jobs,  and increase their earning potential.

2. Leaning in, listening, and learning 

Often, the management and C-suite leaders are ignorant or insensitive to the microaggressions and challenges that Black employees face. Employee surveys are a great tool to understand the sentiments of discriminated employees. Having focused groups and collaborative workshops also opens doors to meaningful conversations about existing discrimination.

3. Involving the leadership

If leaders repeatedly communicate that diversity and inclusion are a corporate and personal commitment, the workforce will get the message. However, that communication needs to be followed up with real and intentional action toward creating an inclusive workforce.

4. Embracing racially inclusive company values

Communicating what a company and its leaders believe and stand for sets the standard for everyone to follow. When racial inclusiveness is part of the company's values, it creates a sense of safety and belonging in the atmosphere. 

Companies must go beyond posters and websites and put diversity and inclusion into practice. For example, as an inclusivity initiative, a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination can be declared. This sends out the message that inclusion is truly valued.

5. Developing a welcoming and inclusive work culture

It is also mission-critical that companies choose managers and leaders with inclusive mindsets. These are the people that interact one-on-one with employees. They are also responsible for executing and enforcing DEI initiatives across the organization.

Managers can help build a culture that welcomes, supports, and celebrates employees from all racial backgrounds. They should be prepared to address any incidents of discrimination or bias and work to resolve these issues in a timely and effective manner.

6. Rooting out bias from hiring

Removing biases and barriers to racial inclusion from the hiring process should be one of the first steps in an organization. Hiring teams can be sensitized to address existing biases in the process.

Tools like blind hiring and pre-assessment tests can help evaluate candidates based purely on their job skills. They eliminate bias in the selection process and help hiring teams stay objective by evaluating candidates based on test results and not on skin color.

7. An inclusive promotion ladder

No matter how diverse an organization's hiring process is, without an infrastructure and culture that helps African Americans grow, all efforts are futile. Creating transparent matrixes that explain the conditions for promotions can help managers and employees make better decisions about promotions. Transparency mitigates bias and promotes trust.

8. Encourage employees to be inclusive

Policies or rules achieve nothing when employees don't understand the "why." Organizations must sensitize their employees and facilitate a work atmosphere where people can work together without discrimination or harassment.

Encouraging a culture of honor where people know how to call out each other's strengths and celebrate each other's victories can go a long way. Enable team-building activities that help them understand each other's backgrounds and take interest in each other's experiences.

Driving Real Change 

Organizations should measure progress and optimize the effectiveness of their policies and initiatives to build an inclusive workplace. Let's look at some aspects that matter to drive change:

Demographic data

Collecting data on the race, gender, and other characteristics of employees, and tracking changes over time.

Employee engagement surveys

Gather feedback from employees on their experiences and perceptions of the company's DEI initiatives.

Representation and diversity data

Measuring the representation of Black employees at all levels of the organization, including in leadership positions, and tracking changes over time.

Promotion and retention data

Monitoring the promotion and retention rates of Black employees, and comparing these to overall rates to identify disparities and address any systemic barriers.

Diversity training participation and impact

Tracking participation in DEI training programs, and assessing the impact of these programs on employee attitudes and behaviors.

Complaints and incidents of discrimination

Tracking and addressing incidents of discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

With these aspects, companies can gain valuable insights into their DEI initiatives, identify areas for improvement, and track progress toward creating a more inclusive workplace.

Conclusion

It may not be possible to fix the workplace overnight. Nevertheless, companies can start by championing, encouraging, and rewarding inclusive thinking at work. A new generation of socially-conscious investors, employees, and customers is taking a keen interest in how companies are incorporating DEI metrics into their due diligence. Apathetic companies will find it challenging to stay relevant and competitive.

Cogent Staffing enables organizations to build a more diverse, inclusive, and advanced workforce to attract and retain world-class talent. Learn more about how Cogent Staffing can help with training needs that will have a long-term impact on your workplace.